Letters

Letters

Relatively unchanged from the old Novel, that’s what Erica Wayne said, and she’s right (“Still a Novel concept,” Aug. 22). She then went on to describe the above-average food choices. Again, she’s quite right.

The omission, however, (and also unchanged from the old Novel) is how very, very, very long one has to wait, and wait, and wait. While the staff is cordial and pleasant, there are precious few of them. We usually go during happy hour — we have to leave for class by 6:15, so make it a point to arrive before 5.

This past week, we arrived at 5:05 and by 5:45 had still not seen our food. It arrived shortly before 6, very shortly. The single waitress was everywhere, as was the single bus person. I suspect that, had I gotten up to peek into the kitchen, I would have found a single chef as well.

On this particular evening, the place seemed to be especially busy. We’ve been there pretty much alone on occasion and still had the interminably long wait for service and our food. Not everyone goes there for the Wi-Fi.

Since there are any number of really fast food places, and some not so fast, but within our hour-plus limit, we don’t go there often. More often we head for the opposite ends of Pasadena and still manage to get served and out in plenty of time, even at Green Street, a lovely sit-down and visit venue.

No doubt, we’ll eat at Novel again. The food is lovely and there’s no way to rush good cooking. An additional waitperson, though, would really help matters, or maybe a bit more kitchen help — or both.

~ ETHEL WATSON, LOS ANGELES

It started somewhere

The case in which an East Chicago teenager is accused of sadistically killing three kittens because he was “bored” should be treated very seriously. According to police, the Oklahoma teenagers who were recently charged with fatally shooting an Australian baseball player because they were “bored” may have also killed an animal before moving on to a human victim.

Medical experts and top law-enforcement officials agree: Cruelty to animals is a big red flag. Many serial rapists and murderers, including school shooters, have a background of abusing animals. The link between cruelty to animals and interpersonal violence is undeniable. In fact, the FBI uses reports of cruelty in gauging the threat potential of suspected and known criminals, and the American Psychiatric Association identifies such crimes as one of the diagnostic criteria for conduct disorders.

It’s vital that animal abusers receive intervention — including counseling and a ban on contact with animals — to prevent their violence from escalating.

To learn more, visit www.PETA.org.

~ MARTIN MERSEREAU, PETA DIRECTOR, NORFOLK, VA

FROM THE WEB:

Re: “Cam scam redux,” Aug. 15

Harry is lucky to have Jennifer working for him. She did a great research job.

There is another scam that she didn’t expose in this article, probably due to space limitations. It is the Snitch Ticket. Snitch Tickets are fake/phishing red-light camera tickets mailed out by California police to fool the registered owner into identifying the actual driver of the car. One city sends out about 10,000 of them annually. Snitch Tickets have not been filed with the court, so they don’t say “Notice to Appear,” don’t have the court’s address and phone number, and usually say (on the back, in small letters), “Do not contact the court about this notice.” Since they have NOT been filed with the court, they have no legal weight whatsoever. You can ignore a Snitch Ticket. If in doubt, Google the term. And once you understand how tricky a Snitch Ticket is, tell your friends who live in or visit California about them, so that they won’t get tricked.

~ HENRYP

Correction:

In the Get Your Own section of the Sept. 5 issue, we received the wrong information about The Smokey Lonesome Band playing Wednesday nights at the 100 to One cocktail lounge in Arcadia. While the band does play there Wednesday nights, the wrong picture and Web site link was listed. The correct Web link is https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Smokey-Lonesome/ 321176694637324.